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Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act

David Blunkett: Lord Carlile of Berriew QC has completed the report on the operation of part IV of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, in 2003, which will be laid before the House today.
	I am grateful to Lord Carlile for his work and am pleased to note that he is again satisfied that I have certified persons only in appropriate cases and that I have exercised my independent judgment in each case having given due regard to advice from officials.
	I welcome Lord Carlile's recommendations which I will be considering in detail over the next few weeks. They will provide a useful contribution to the debates.

Ms Sarah Woodhouse

Beverley Hughes: I am pleased to inform the House that Ms Sarah Woodhouse has been appointed as the independent monitor of certification of claims as unfounded under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
	Ms Woodhouse has been appointed as monitor for two years. She will monitor the operation of the use of the power to certify an asylum claim or human right claim (or both) as unfounded under section 94 of the NIA Act 2002. In particular she will consider the procedures used to determine whether claims are unfounded and the quality and effectiveness of decisions made under this procedure. She will report annually to the Secretary of State who will then lay a copy of the report before the House.

Police Firearms

Hazel Blears: The statistics for 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 show that the number of police operations in which firearms were issued was 14,827. The number of occasions on which conventional firearms were discharged by police was 37, which covered 10 incidents. There were also four occasions where a baton round was used as a less lethal alternative to a conventional firearm.
	Armed response vehicles were deployed on 11,818 occasions and there were 5,763 authorised firearms officers in England and Wales
	Full details are set out in the tables below:
	
		Number of operations in which firearms were authorised
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 TOTAL 10,915 11,109 13,991 14,827 
			 AVON & SOMERSET 90 65 195 262 
			 BEDFORDSHIRE 190 294 237 301 
			 CAMBRIDGESHIRE 75 71 114 57 
			 CHESHIRE 386 545 419 451 
			 CLEVELAND 76 28 37 170 
			 CITY OF LONDON 125 3 40 131 
			 CUMBRIA 24 30 71 77 
			 DERBYSHIRE 178 167 275 401 
			 DEVON & CORNWALL 65 151 101 96 
			 DORSET 79 174 184 193 
			 DURHAM 114 40 89 83 
			 ESSEX 497 435 323 312 
			 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 52 48 165 185 
			 GTR MANCHESTER 224 357 580 518 
			 HAMPSHIRE 103 114 198 162 
			 HERTFORDSHIRE 73 86 112 172 
			 HUMBERSIDE 193 158 297 187 
			 KENT 85 83 115 137 
			 LANCASHIRE 267 242 232 238 
			 LEICESTERSHIRE 222 217 300 268 
			 LINCOLNSHIRE 155 336 477 392 
			 MERSEYSIDE 489 825 1,020 628 
			 METROPOLITAN 2,862 1,862 2,447 3,199 
			 NORFOLK 239 226 175 200 
			 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 57 58 43 138 
			 NORTHUMBRIA 465 708 1,440 1,275 
			 NORTH YORKSHIRE 61 72 92 100 
			 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 255 233 384 452 
			 SOUTH YORKSHIRE 237 127 258 463 
			 STAFFORDSHIRE 174 203 232 281 
			 SUFFOLK 165 176 163 270 
			 SURREY 143 221 245 247 
			 SUSSEX 185 353 248 204 
			 THAMES VALLEY 110 153 179 167 
			 WARWICKSHIRE 194 233 130 149 
			 WEST MERCIA 110 36 117 91 
			 WEST MIDLANDS 362 485 822 902 
			 WEST YORKSHIRE 813 822 757 604 
			 WILTSHIRE 19 66 45 58 
			 DYFED POWYS 37 18 28 29 
			 GWENT 39 30 20 37 
			 NORTH WALES 371 195 302 259 
			 SOUTH WALES 255 363 283 281 
		
	
	
		Number of authorised firearms officers (AFOs)
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 TOTAL 6,262 6,064 5,776 5,763 
			 AVON & SOMERSET 150 135 116 84 
			 BEDFORDSHIRE 46 45 48 53 
			 CAMBRIDGESHIRE 77 73 56 71 
			 CHESHIRE 75 74 81 89 
			 CLEVELAND 80 75 85 80 
			 CITY OF LONDON 73 74 73 72 
			 CUMBRIA 98 94 92 87 
			 DERBYSHIRE 77 81 80 69 
			 DEVON & CORNWALL 119 100 108 115 
			 DORSET 66 67 57 59 
			 DURHAM 101 101 86 102 
			 ESSEX 228 195 180 184 
			 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 77 72 71 80 
			 GTR MANCHESTER 218 240 219 202 
			 HAMPSHIRE 111 100 87 94 
			 HERTFORDSHIRE 52 44 46 47 
			 HUMBERSIDE 97 102 96 96 
			 KENT 136 136 113 93 
			 LANCASHIRE 143 132 138 129 
			 LEICESTERSHIRE 90 85 69 68 
			 LINCOLNSHIRE 78 80 91 87 
			 MERSEYSIDE 96 103 78 84 
			 METROPOLITAN 1,977 1,940 1,805 1,823 
			 NORFOLK 110 114 104 109 
			 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 75 77 51 56 
			 NORTHUMBRIA 114 109 125 99 
			 NORTH YORKSHIRE 59 66 66 64 
			 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 116 137 136 131 
			 SOUTH YORKSHIRE 100 98 92 100 
			 STAFFORDSHIRE 81 67 71 63 
			 SUFFOLK 98 90 90 80 
			 SURREY 71 72 62 48 
			 SUSSEX 131 118 120 141 
			 THAMES VALLEY 187 185 156 180 
			 WARWICKSHIRE 54 45 50 51 
			 WEST MERCIA 129 130 125 131 
			 WEST MIDLANDS 93 83 111 110 
			 WEST YORKSHIRE 110 117 116 132 
			 WILTSHIRE 89 71 71 78 
			 DYFED POWYS 65 61 77 62 
			 GWENT 68 66 57 60 
			 NORTH WALES 92 67 83 75 
			 SOUTH WALES 155 143 138 125 
		
	
	
		Number of operations involving armed response vehicles (ARVs)
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 TOTAL 8,276 8,179 11,574 11,818 
			 AVON & SOMERSET 78 56 173 215 
			 BEDFORDSHIRE 172 253 172 269 
			 CAMBRIDGESHIRE 54 36 43 45 
			 CHESHIRE 330 441 523 337 
			 CLEVELAND 25 16 13 63 
			 CITY OF LONDON 24 30 39 131 
			 CUMBRIA 21 27 53 45 
			 DERBYSHIRE 167 152 253 363 
			 DEVON & CORNWALL 52 121 76 32 
			 DORSET 69 155 182 180 
			 DURHAM 67 31 57 66 
			 ESSEX 244 206 165 176 
			 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 44 39 140 166 
			 GTR MANCHESTER 173 302 528 406 
			 HAMPSHIRE 90 84 116 108 
			 HERTFORDSHIRE 44 65 81 129 
			 HUMBERSIDE 181 136 273 170 
			 KENT 58 64 89 132 
			 LANCASHIRE 250 177 192 185 
			 LEICESTERSHIRE 144 195 292 232 
			 LINCOLNSHIRE 141 324 470 367 
			 MERSEYSIDE 466 75 974 547 
			 METROPOLITAN 1,812 1,380 1,667 2,447 
			 NORFOLK 210 192 157 186 
			 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 21 35 25 90 
			 NORTHUMBRIA 397 655 1,349 1,204 
			 NORTH YORKSHIRE 40 54 60 67 
			 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 232 207 333 397 
			 SOUTH YORKSHIRE 214 103 221 280 
			 STAFFORDSHIRE 131 136 208 241 
			 SUFFOLK 101 103 116 160 
			 SURREY 110 192 225 240 
			 SUSSEX 172 245 189 111 
			 THAMES VALLEY 108 108 174 167 
			 WARWICKSHIRE 158 194 104 31 
			 WEST MERCIA 98 26 100 81 
			 WEST MIDLANDS 138 243 563 592 
			 WEST YORKSHIRE 787 785 609 565 
			 WILTSHIRE 15 48 43 39 
			 DYFED POWYS 37 18 28 29 
			 GWENT 27 17 16 16 
			 NORTH WALES 354 155 265 198 
			 SOUTH WALES 220 298 218 253